Credit card billing address when booking internal US flights with Southwest

[Jurahn]

We're travelling to the US later this year and will be booking our internal flights with Southwest. Had a "trial run" of their booking process and note that on the payment page, it asks for the "Street Billing Address" for the credit card (I think street addresses are the norm with US credit cards?).

My CC billing address is a PO Box - does anyone know if their system will accept this? I'm concerned in case (a) I put in the PO Box as the (correct) billing address, but the system will reject it as it's not a street address or (b) I put in my street address, but the payment will be knocked back as that won't match my billing address!

 

[tuppaware]

I booked a ORD-LAX flight myself, although I dont have a PO box I assume that SW will just approve any address linked to a credit card.

BTW- I didnt think CC's could be registered with PO boxes?

 

[Hvr]

All of my credit cards have a PO Box as the mailing address. The companies do have my home address but they don't have any problems sending all of my mail to the box.

In fact I think they prefer it, lessens the risk of identification theft.

 

[Mwenenzi]

All of my credit cards have a PO Box as the mailing address. The companies do have my home address but they don't have any problems sending all of my mail to the box.

Same for me. Some of institutions do not have my street address. Never had a problem putting in a PO Box as "street address" on web sites.

 

[elbarto]

I guess all you can do is try it. You could browse the southwest website to see if they have any information on it.d

 

[burrco]

I've had no problems using my PO Box as a billing address for any US purchases made.

About 18 months ago I booked a Southwest flight and, although I can't remember the specifics, I do remember being able to fly, so assume the address was no issue.

 

[Jurahn]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I looked everywhere on the Southwest website but there was nothing about this. From what I can find elsewhere, it looks like US banks won't register a credit card to anything other than a street address, whereas although my bank has my street address, the billing address has always been a PO Box.

Sounds like I'll be able to go ahead and book without too many hassles.

 

[Boof1]

You won't have any worries with the PO Box, I booked flights last year with Southwest to a PO Box.

Just a word of warning though....

When you book the flights you may get an error message after you put the credit card details in and press submit. If you do go back to the previous step, but DO NOT submit your details again for a couple of minutes and in those minutes check your email in case the booking worked and the PNR is in your inbox. Odds are it'll be there and you don't need to re submit the details in the first place.

For some unknown reason the Southwest website sometimes has an issue with place of residence being outside the USA and it throws up this error. If you don't look in your email and keep re submitting your details (thinking that it was an error and you're not booked) you will end up with heaps of repeat bookings on the same flights.

I learnt this the hard way by keeping on submitting the card details without checking my email. After giving up on booking and thinking I'd have another crack the next day I found 3 PNR's in my inbox and had 6 seats on every flight booked for our journey when I only needed 2!!! Southwest's call centre in Houston was amazing, fixing it all and reversing the ones I didn't need. I really couldn't fault the customer service.

Can I ask any reason why you are using Southwest? Southwest are OK but nothing to rave about apart from the 2 free bags.

If Jetblue fly the routes you are going to be flying I'd book with them instead. Both the ground service and onboard experience is so much better (Live TV, better free snacks and drinks) as well as getting first bag (to 50lbs) per pax free. I've also heard VX are good but I've not tried them...

Cheers,

Boof

 

[Jurahn]

Hi Boof

Thanks for your post, that's a fantastic help - I would have done exactly the same as you if an error came up and kept resubmitting the details, so I'm very grateful for the warning!!

I looked at VX and also Jetblue, but unfortunately neither of them fly the routes we need (LAX to Las Vegas, then on to Tucson, then from Tucson back to LAX) so Southwest seemed our best option, both for flight availability/frequency and price as well (especially as they don't charge for checked baggage).

 

[Bad Seed]

Hi,

A couple of months ago I booked some Southwest airfares for my family of 4 from Chicago to Washington using an Amex card. I have a PO Box as my cc address and had no problems making the booking. I can't remember whether I had to use my street address or my PO box address but certainly if I had to use my street address, the booking was accepted regardless of the fact that it didn't match with the billing address for my cc (although I think I did use my PO address). Oh, and I know the previous posters mentioned Jetblue - I did compare all my internal flights in the US (San Diego, Las Vegas, Chicago, Washington, New York, San Diego) with Jet Blue, Southwest and American and Southwest and American came in cheaper on all routes once I'd factored in luggage for 4 people.

 

[wywk]

We're travelling to the US later this year and will be booking our internal flights with Southwest. Had a "trial run" of their booking process and note that on the payment page, it asks for the "Street Billing Address" for the credit card (I think street addresses are the norm with US credit cards?).

My CC billing address is a PO Box - does anyone know if their system will accept this? I'm concerned in case (a) I put in the PO Box as the (correct) billing address, but the system will reject it as it's not a street address or (b) I put in my street address, but the payment will be knocked back as that won't match my billing address!

I purchased a Southwest Gift Card for my friend who lives in the US using my Citibank Visa card and it went through fine. For the billing address, I somehow managed to put my aussie address in there and since I live in Sydney, I chose 'NS' as the state but still put NSW in the extra address field. It worked but I also advised Citibank beforehand that I would be purchasing from Southwest and not to stop it, this might have helped.

 

[Boof1]

Hi Boof

Thanks for your post, that's a fantastic help - I would have done exactly the same as you if an error came up and kept resubmitting the details, so I'm very grateful for the warning!!

I looked at VX and also Jetblue, but unfortunately neither of them fly the routes we need (LAX to Las Vegas, then on to Tucson, then from Tucson back to LAX) so Southwest seemed our best option, both for flight availability/frequency and price as well (especially as they don't charge for checked baggage).

No worries Mate. Hope the trip goes well.

I had a look at some options for you just to feed my own curiosity about Tucson and you haven't got a hell of a lot of choice!

Having said that Southwest do exactly what they advertise and they do it very well, I only mentioned B6 as I thought they were brilliant last year, and I've heard the same of VX.

One thing I can recommend with Southwest is to make sure you either pay for the early boarding, or check in as early as possible using online check in. Getting an A boarding group is handy as you get the pick of the seats. A group boarding is usually gone by the time you get to the airport to check in. The boarding process with Southwest is stupid and is the reason they don't get my first pick or first recommendation for flights in the US.

Also do yourself a favour if you've not flown Southwest before, have a read of the website explaining the boarding process its' called Boarding School and can be found here: Southwest Airlines Boarding School
It's handy to understand what they do and how they do it as it's a system that I don't think is used anywhere else.

Enjoy the USA and Southwest!

Cheers,

Boof

 

[Jurahn]

Thanks Bad Seed and wywk for your replies, always good to hear even more confirmation that the bookings with Southwest should be OK!

Boof: Yes, flying out of Tucson doesn't leave us a lot of options flight-wise! I know what you mean about the Southwest boarding process - I'd seen references to it on other forums so checked it out on the website, and went "what the ...????" but after going through "Boarding School", I think I've got a handle on it now

Will definitely be paying extra for the Early Bird check-in option, especially for our initial flight to Vegas as we'll be spending the previous umpteen hours travelling Perth-Syd-LAX, so no chance to check in ahead of time there! We don't have a laptop or smartphones, so no easily available access to Internet unless we use a hotel computer etc, and when we're on holiday, I'd rather not be watching the clock and having to make sure we're near a computer at T24 - I'll let the airline do it for me, and the convenience is worth the extra $10 pp.

Cheers

 

[Jurahn]

Just an update to say that I've successfully booked our first flight with Southwest - many thanks to the AFF posters on this thread!

I used the PO Box without any problems - only hiccup was with the billing phone number - first attempt was rejected as "purchaser's phone number not entered correctly", but then broke my mobile number down into 3-3-4 digits, same as US phone numbers, and it accepted that. I'd already put my mobile number in with international code as the "outside of the US" contact number further up the page, but you can't do that with the billing phone number (which is mandatory), it won't accept more than 10 digits for that phone number. Received the confirmation email from Southwest a few minutes later. Whew! So thanks again to all those who gave advice and hints, much appreciated